Kendrick Lamar

“TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY”

Top Dawg Entertainment/ Aftermath Entertainment/ Interscope Records

So soon after its unexpected issue late Sunday, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” the new record by Compton-raised rapper and lyricist Kendrick Lamar, is still settling in, less a voluminous whole than a germinal swirl of phrases, grooves, bass lines and themes both personal and political working to find purchase.

From the start, Lamar’s ambition has been astounding. This record is so expansive that it’s tough to wrestle into shape, even as it overflows with wit, smarts and a masterful skill of the language and phrasing. Lamar plays with his voice, dramatizing the tone of an old man here, trading barbs with himself there. He heaves with feigned breakdown, pinches his throat to move into a high-pitched whine. He varies the speed and tempo of his lines like Miles Davis lost inside a solo.

This third record is less readily catchy than its predecessor, dwelling within a bottom-end bass zone created by session man and co-producer Thundercat. The record depicts Lamar running from the devil (who takes the form of a character named Lucy — short for Lucifer), tracing life “from Compton to Congress,” chiding judges, the LAPD and the rap world’s relentless quest for money. He suffers a claustrophobic near-breakdown in “u” and conducts a mock interview with the late Tupac Shakur on the album closer “Mortal Man.”

Anyone seeking to understand the grievances, the frustrations, inspirations and creative power of youth culture should be absorbing every word of “To Pimp a Butterfly.”

What they’ll find is dense, ripe for exploration.

ON TOUR: May 22 — Gorge Amphitheatre, George, WA; www.sasquatchfestival.com.

— Randall Roberts,

Los Angeles Times